Thursday, May 10, 2012

Does the 3rd Roaming Regulation open the way to US heavyweights in the roaming market?

PC Pro raises the question of whether the Third Roaming Regulation would enable Apple and Google to become suppliers of data roaming services within the EU.

Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa Telecoms and Media, was quoted as saying:

Roaming is an extremely complex business and there will need to be new investment in mobile networks to allow new players to provide roaming services ... The cost of these network upgrades and the mechanisms by which these new players are allowed into the market have yet to be agreed.

Apple and Google may be tempted into the market... smartphone vendors are constantly looking to develop new services, features and functionality that allow them to keep up their prices and to differentiate themselves from their competitors ... Offering their users a data plan – via an app store – that allows them to use their favourite services while abroad at a much lower price than that offered by their home network would clearly be an attractive proposition.